Kukla's Korner Hockey

The history between (Paul) MacLean and (Dan) O’Rourke goes back to Jan. 21, when the Senators lost 2-1 to the Anaheim Ducks. Immediately after that game, MacLean said O’Rourke told him that defenceman Erik Karlsson was “a diver,” which was the reason he didn’t call a penalty when Karlsson was knocked to the ice by Anaheim’s Ryan Getzlaf in the final minute of the game.

Since then, the Senators have been on the wrong end of the referee’s whistle.

In a 4-0 loss to Los Angeles on Jan. 23, when O’Rourke and Tim Peel were the referees, a penalty shot was awarded even though replays showed that a penalty wasn’t warranted. Against Phoenix on Jan. 24, with Peel and Dan O’Halloran serving as referees, an apparent third-period tying goal by Daniel Alfredsson was wiped out by a questionable goaltending interference call. Then came Tuesday’s game against Boston.

Terry Gregson, the NHL’s director of officiating, defended his official on Wednesday.

“You do not work the Stanley Cup finals in this league, as Dan did last year, without being a top-notch official working from an impartial perspective,” Gregson said in an email. “An official must enter each game with the mindset of being prepared, but not prejudging what will occur.”

Funny that the picture in the article features Tom Kowal. Just last night, he put on one of the most disgraceful shows you’ll ever see by a ref.. In the first period, Kris Letang was BLATANTLY high-sticked by Phil Kessel. He lay on the ice bleeding from the nose and face. He looked up in disbelief at Kowal, who made no call. Letang then angrily slammed the puck down the ice. Twice after that, Letang had his skates kicked out from under him. No call from Kowal, who was obviously upset that Letang had showed him up. Kowal is far worse than Tim Peel, right up there with St. Laurent as the worst ref in the league.

Posted by
Mike Adams
on 02/02/12 at 12:36 PM ET

Don’t feel bad Ottawa. You are getting the Redwing treatment. We have been on the wrong side of calls for a long time. IE, last game against Calgary Pavel Datsyuk took a high stick to the neck with no call. Replays have showed that calls that were made were bad. Pavel got called for a trip and wasn’t even near the guy. When you are on top of the league, they try to bring you down to the rest by calling or not calling penalities or waving off goals. Get used to it because it is the norm for teams that have been good or are good and not the poster teams of the league.

Posted by
Tom from Southwest Michigan
on 02/02/12 at 02:32 PM ET

Tom, maybe if the Wings didn’t dive so much, the refs would give them more benefit of the doubt. It started with Fedorov, and has been passed down through the ages.

Posted by
Mike Adams
on 02/02/12 at 03:17 PM ET

Mike, maybe if the Penguins didn’t dive so much, the refs would have called penalties when Letang (who got away with charging last night) is the victim of things.